The Singing Forest

While I don't agree with most here who say this is the worst movie I've ever seen, I certainly would classify it in my bottom five....

The premise *could* have been interesting. And if you're unfortunate enough to have rented this mess before reading these comments, it may help to watch the 'special features' (bunch of odd shorts) before, or instead of, the film. They're no better, but they have some shock value and, being shorts, do not drag on & on about nothing.

The shorts and other features on the DVD clarify, for me, what's really wrong: the filmmaker thinks he can succeed by doing little more than recording actions, sets, and dialog and calling it a movie. Everything else on the disc is as emptyheaded as the movie. The filmmaker seems proud of the film in the way you might be proud of spreading garbage over an acre of fresh lawn, that is, he thinks it's most important to be

The only noteworthy performer is Craig Pinkston, but only because he looks halfway hot in the brief scene with his shirt off.

I'm sorry, but I think intercutting some of the most gruesome Holocaust photos with your own amateurish footage in order to order to highjack some emotional impact for your plot is inexcusable. Everyone should see those images, because the create a visceral understanding of the enormity of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. But the way they are used here so gratuitously cheapens them, and cheapens the memory of the victims.

I watched the whole movie, trying to make allowances for the low budget, the learning process, and overall naiveté, but I just became more and more annoyed. Every scene in this movie seems to be trying to wrench significance out of every word and image, and it just isn't earned.

Jorge Ameer has made a shockingly terrible movie. My boyfriend and I watched this surprisingly bad movie last night. The cover art on the DVD case made this seem like it was going to be a really good movie. But we really hated it. As an openly gay couple, we both were very insulted by this movie. It really lacked morals and suggested some very seedy situations.

And the directing was just about the worst you could ever imagine. No, scratch that. I really could never imagine a film being directed with such sloppy directing. Ever. Jorge Ameer has no business making movies. I don't know what his talents are but film making is not one of them.

I had fun reading the varied comments here, about "The Singing Forest". I thought the film had an interesting story idea, but it was not developed in the movie, at all. I agree with most all the negative comments about the directing, lousy sound, poor lighting, no action, etc. But, worst of all, our intelligence was insulted by an ignorant script which completely failed to deal with the basic story idea. It was so contrived that it should be named "The Groaning Forest". The actors did the best that could be expected with such a miserable script. I'm giving my copy to the local gay rights organization, with a warning "See it with friends who can make bad jokes about this taaackkkky flick, then you may get some chuckles."

This film is about a man meeting his lover of his previous life, who happens to be his daughter's fiancé.

I could not believe how bad this film is! There is a very big problem with every single aspect of this film, be it the plot, the acting, the lighting, sound, cinematography, wardrobe or directing. Each of these are described below! The plot is bad to start with and it is very poorly told. The acting is non existent. The actors barely stand there reciting the lines. The sets are not made or decorated in any way, it seems as if the director just shot the film inside his house. The wardrobe is very old fashioned and plain, as if the actors wore the cheapest item they have in their own wardrobe. There is no costume adviser or even any budget for clothes, I can bet.

The lighting is very bad. Most of the time the film is not adequately lit. In the scene where Christopher drinks beer in the living room, the only source of light is the lamp beside Christopher. This makes the beer bottles and even the coffee table dark and indiscernible because they are against the light.

In addition, the soundtrack is a big problem as well. There is a high level of ambient noise, and sometimes we even hear traffic outside the house and hear dogs barking! In the scene where the two men talk on the seaside, the waves are so loud that the sound of waves literally drown out the conversation.

However, the worst is yet to be described! The cinematography is shocking. 90% of the time, the camera sits on a tripod for two or three minutes. This means that most of the time, the camera does not move, and the shot length is very long. This means that most of the conversations are filmed with two people sitting and talking. We do not have any camera shots of their facial expressions or reactions. For example, in the scene where Christopher lies in bed talking to the standing daughter, the camera is positioned behind Christopher, so that during the long conversation we could not see his face at all. There are also many times that the cameraman decides that the characters are in fact not in the centre of the visual field, and shifts the camera to the side a bit. Oh, why does it take you so long to realise the camera is off centre? It is almost comical for the film to have a black storyboard to serve as the narrator. It looks like someone holding a black cardboard in front of the camera. Because of the high level of ambient noise, when the black storyboard comes in, there is total silence. Then the ambient noise starts again when the film resumes.

Believe me, this film is really very bad. Avoid!